


Small moments in a larger story: Breath of the Wild

by Estantia



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Autistic Character, Drabble Sequence, F/M, Genderfluid Character, Knowledge of other incarnations, M/M, Mostly Fluff, None of these things are obvious at the start, Other, Polyamorous Character, Selectively Mute Link (Legend of Zelda), Slice of Life, Small scenes from a larger story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:27:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 4,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22790209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Estantia/pseuds/Estantia
Summary: Waking with no memories and no constraints means you can find out who you are for yourself. Maybe you'll see the world in a way you never could have done before.... She deserves to have that chance too.----A selection of scenes from Link's journey through Hyrule and after saving the princess. Mostly introspective or wholesome, often fluff or melancholy. It's an idea that's been done before, but every journey through this game is unique. Likely to update slowly.
Relationships: Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Comments: 4
Kudos: 43





	1. A House

**Author's Note:**

> This world is inspired by all the fics where Link experiences bits of his past lives while in the Chamber of Restoration and partially by all the sweet Link/Zelda and Link/Sidon fics. (If people recognise the specific ones I got inspiration from and have now forgotten the names of I will update these notes!)
> 
> There will be heavy topics (particularly duty and PTSD) later, but probably no smut. Enjoy!

Link ran up to the man, eyes shining and out of breath with a bundle of rupees clutched to his chest. The last few hundred, all those monsters he’d found along the way chipping in to these piles of rupees - more than he’d ever owned in his life - and it was finally enough.

Part of him chuckled at being called studly as he handed over the money and the bundles of wood, but most of him was looking at his house with delight, immediately running through the front door. There was nothing in here, but it shone with promise. 

There was even a little balcony looking onto the main room! He ran his hands over it, feeling the stone practically sing against his hand. Yes it was rough, but he had a  _ home _ , a place that was his and no-one else’s, not his uncle’s, or his friend’s or his grandma’s,  _ his _ , and his alone.

It even had a shed with a door! He owned a place with more than one door, where it could actually be a house someone lived in! He ran out to the back to touch the wood of the stable and imagined Malon (the horse, not the person) in it, then hopped the fence and rested his hand against the tree. He owned a  _ garden _ , and it had an old tree and a beautiful pond and he was nearly crying as he looked out over the valley.

He had a  _ home _ , somewhere that was his, and no-one else’s. It wasn’t even a box, or a standard template, it was old and loved and  _ beautiful _ .

He’d never thought he’d have somewhere that was his.

If any of the construction workers noticed the strange mostly mute man practically hugging the tree as he looked out over the valley and cried, they were kind enough not to mention it.


	2. The First Guardian

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link deliberately fights his first mobile Guardian and finally stops drifting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a moment that happened in game that was exactly as picturesque and poignant as it seems. This scene was written to try and capture that perfect sequence of events.

He stole across the open grass like an intruder, and in a way he was, he had never been comfortable with Hyrule Castle even when it had been his theoretical home. The added threat of Guardians and swirling corruption didn’t make it more appealing.

But the ruins here held another of his memories, so steal towards it he did, his sheikah armour barely making a sound as he ran through the grass. He couldn’t  _ see _ any Guardians, but something was unnerving him. He stopped at the edge of a small woodland and felt a bit safer, blending into the shadow of the trees before he blinked.

That was why he had felt unnerved. For all this place had overgrown, this was so much tamer than everywhere else in Hyrule, this was a field, just an open grassy field. He blinked again when he realised this was probably  _ the _ Hyrule field, not just any,  _ the _ . 

He emerged from the other side of the woodland and looked at it with the castle in the distance. It couldn’t not be, and even if he couldn’t remember details about his life here he still felt uncomfortable with the Castle looming over him. It never led to good things, finally returning to the Castle at the centre of the landscape.

He ran, barely making a sound as his shadow stretched long behind him and the grass turned orange in the setting sun as he ran towards the castle.

His pace slowed as he entered the wood around the Sacred Grounds. It was quiet, and the Master Sword wasn’t reacting to any corruption so he had somehow found this place without any Guardians being nearby. Good. He could focus on his memories then.

When he surfaced from his memories the cloth mask around his face was too tight, the symbol on their chest making them feel like an imposter. He was no Sheikah, he shouldn’t mock these proud people by pretending to be one of them, not the untried boy somehow blown into being a great hero by the sword on their back.

He was about to rip off the mask and cast it aside when an all too familiar laser sight settled on his chest, kicking off into a run away from the Guardian, out of the circle and over the gap in the bridge before they knew what he was doing, his/their mind returning as he reached the trees and stopped.

The back of his mind ran with calculations as the wind gently blew at him. He didn’t have long to stand here, the Guardian would make its way around the water channel soon and then he would have to fight it. He should run as he always did, they were difficult foes and he wasn’t that strong, just like they’d said in the memory and...

… And this place had been sacred.

This place had been  _ Zelda’s _ , and he wouldn’t let this Guardian run around like it owned it any more.

He changed his mask for the plain Hylian hood, the firm trousers and turned around, blue eyes glinting in the shadow of his hood.

_ No more. _

The Master Sword blazed in his hand as he leapt forward, blue steel flying through the Guardian’s leg and flipping it onto its side to reveal its underbelly, the sun setting to leave only the Master Sword and the Guardian’s light in the clearing as they fought. The Guardian would right itself and frantically try to get a bead on him only to get overwhelmed by the blue eyes lit with righteous fury and the light of his blade as it lost a leg and was flipped back onto its side once more.

It only seemed to take a few moments for the fight to end, the last flare of light from the explosion fading with the Master Sword’s glow into the darkness as Link looked down at the ancient parts scattered before him.

He’d fought stationary Guardians before, but that had always been for a purpose, to get to somewhere or to clear an area to search it. This felt different, the first time where  _ he _ had  _ chosen _ to fight them - no, to  _ cleanse _ a place of them. If he were going to save Hyrule rather than simply wander around and enjoy it then he had to start somewhere.

His first Guardian.

The turning of the tide.

The eye on his chest felt like a heartbeat as he pulled up his notes on the Sheikah slate of where his assistance was needed. 

_ Right, where can I help? _


	3. Strength

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What was a few weeks of getting lost happily exploring to 100 years fighting in the darkness?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After this point things will not necessarily be in order and we start to see more of how Link interacts with other people.
> 
> Also Zelda is absolutely MVP and Link is a mess of feelings.  
> ++++

The first thing he did after Ganon was defeated was to take her to his house in Hateno, gently putting her in front of him on the saddle and looping one arm around her to keep her in place, managing not to stroke her hair gently and instead keep his hand on her shoulder to keep her secure as he rode. It didn’t take long for her to fall asleep, cradled against him with the exhaustion of someone who’s been fighting alone for a hundred years.

It was his privilege to guide the three of them through the night to the village, drifting through the darkness like ghosts in a sudden calm no-one seemed able to pierce. He guided them up the slope to his house and quietly tried to work out how he was going to dismount while stopping Zelda falling off.

He instead opted for gently shaking her. She immediately attempted to struggle awake, only calming when Link stroked her hair like he’d seen Urbosa do in a memory.

“Link..?”

She was sitting up enough for Link to swing off the saddle and into her field of view (just, her eyes were barely open) and open their arms in an invitation, gently tugging her off the horse when she didn’t respond.

“I canwalkbymyself youknow.”

Link was too busy focussing on keeping her upright to make a skeptical face at her.

She seemed to realise this and gathered herself together, eyes fully opening to focus on the final task of climbing the small flight of stairs and the last few steps to his bed. She fell onto it without a sound and was asleep almost immediately.

Link had expected to feel pity, worry at her exhaustion (and maybe there was some in the very back of his mind, but for now Link was filled with nothing but wonder at the strength of this woman’s will that she could go through so much and still have enough strength to manage the last few steps to bed with a straight back and firm eyes.

This was the will that had sealed Calamity Ganon for a hundred years, this was the will that had kept people safe and allowed them to rebuild, and all in a woman sound asleep in a muddy white dress. When faced with such strength, what could he do but offer what little assistance he could?

He lifted her other foot onto the bed and covered her with a blanket, tucking her in neatly before taking up his post on a chair in the corner to keep watch over Hyrule’s saviour.


	4. A Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waking up was easy. Processing the situation was harder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Different languages are represented by '<>' in this case Link speaks in Hylian sign language and it is a commonly known language because Link is mute (apart from exceptional circumstances) and yet when he asks questions everyone clearly understands.
> 
> Contains derealisation and being mildly overwhelmed.

“So where are we? Are you sure we’re not inconveniencing anyone by using their house?”

Link smiled and his hands moved while he waited to flip the pancakes, “<It’s mine.>”

Zelda smiled, “Really? I had no idea you came from Hateno.”

“<I don’t. Or at least I don’t know if I did. I bought this house.>”

Now Zelda stared disbelievingly, “You bought it? Since you woke up?”

Link nodded, a small proud smile on his face. “<It even has a sign with my name on it.>”

“How?”

“<Monster parts sell for a lot of money. Also I gathered the wood they needed.>”

Zelda frowned again, “Wood? You mean the house needed to be re-made from scratch?” she paused, looking around at the cosy house, “That means there can’t have been furniture either.”

Now there was definitely a proud smile as Link carried the pancakes over, “<Yes, I paid for that too.>” He paused to roll up a pancake, “<And the plants outside. The pond was already there.>”

She looked at the pancakes, then the house, then out the window, then back to Link in disbelief and shock, trying to link together all this with the stoic knight who had been happy not even paying for his own bed until she insisted. “I… Link are you  _ filthy rich _ ?”

Link bent over laughing at her offended tone, silent huffs of air that were so uniquely him she couldn’t complain that he was too busy holding the table to reply. Zelda ate and waited until he regained his composure. Eventually he was able to free his hands enough to reply, “<It was a  _ lot _ of monsters. The foraging and mining sells well too.>”

Zelda started to laugh before the enormity of it hit her, cutlery in her hands placed neatly back on the table as she stood to walk to the door and opened it, the first breath of fresh air in too long causing her hair to flutter as she looked out onto the village, just far enough to give them peace, close enough to be a part of it.

Link had earnt enough to make a living, a  _ good _ living, off the land. He had his own house, his own way to make food and money for anything he might need. She turned around to find link at her shoulder like a silent shadow, giving her space to work through her thoughts. 

That silent support was the last straw as she looked around at the little picture frames above the stairs. Something washed over her, some emotion too big to name, too much to be gratitude, or awe, or relief or love.

“You don’t even have just the bare essentials.” She whispered, “You could live here forever with what you have, couldn’t you? You don’t need a job, or a post, not for money or power. No-one… no-one has a claim over you any more. We… we don’t need to do  _ anything _ .”

Link shook his head as Zelda’s thoughts unfolded, “I mean, we can still  _ choose _ to do things, but it’s our choice, not forced by my Father or Duty or Prophecy. There’s no kingdom to need a princess, no princess to need a knight.” She turned back to the door. And swallowed, “We’re free, aren’t we? We’re… free.” 

Link didn’t reply, letting the quiet speak for him as her brain worked on the next chain of thought. When the details fell into place tears stung her eyes as she spun back to look at the simple furniture, “But more than that, this… this isn’t just a house, is it? If it were there’d be no reason for the pictures, or the flower vase. This… this is a  _ home _ .”

Link very carefully gave another nod and Zelda couldn’t breathe through her nose starting to run and her breath catching, “I… did you..?”

His hands hesitated, then moved very carefully, as if he were worried about spooking her, “<I bought the house for me, because I’ve never had anywhere that was truly mine.>” He looked up to meet her eyes properly, “<But the furniture and the small things were for us. To make it a home, if you wanted to stay.>”

Zelda swallowed and nodded, attempting to regain her composure by patting her dress for a handkerchief that hadn’t been there for a hundred years. Link handed her one and she blew her nose, playing for time until she could get her voice under control. “Thank you. I would love to stay, if you don’t mind me being here.”

Link nodded in firm agreement and his gentle smile warmed her heart. She had a home, not just ‘the Castle’, a  _ home, _ a place where she could be herself.

The dreamlike feeling of the previous two days shattered and remolded itself into reality in the wooden doorframe under her fingertips. She marvelled at the solidity of the world for a brief moment before she realised how _ heavy _ being solid was.

She was grateful when Link stepped in to help her back to bed and brought the remains of her pancake to her before she fell asleep again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this chapter could be punchier and has a multitude of different themes hinted at, but life isn't clearly delineated so I went with the more realistic representation. This is very much only the start of these issues being looked atand there'll be more focussed ones later, which also factored into it. I'd like to know what people think of it.


	5. Quiet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes a quiet house and a warm bed is infinitely comforting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone's had a morning like this, and Zelda definitely deserves a lie-in. Normality can be so peaceful.

When she woke she was warm. Not only that but the thing under her face was ever so slightly rough. The neverending goop/flame/nightmare had never been like that, a multitude of different horrific sensations, but never the normality of a slightly rough pillow.

Getting used to sleeping again was… weird. Images flickered behind her eyes of the writhing fighting nothing/everything, no/all sensation in dripping flickering pink/black and she forced them away. She had nightmares enough of that, she didn’t need it while she was awake too.

She probably should be concerned that she could push the memory away so easily.

She didn’t want to move or open her eyes just yet, so she simply listened and breathed. There was a wind somewhere, distant, outside. The faint sound of voices and the scratch of a pen. The gentle creaking of an old house in the wind.

It was soothing. Not silence, silence would have been… yawning, empty. This was normal, just quiet.

The comfort of that quiet seeped into her, reassuring her that the nightmare was over and her perception narrowed. There was a heavy soft blanket over her, but the fabric under her was smooth and too padded for it to be the mattress. That meant she was sleeping on the covers, she should probably move under them but… not now.

Her breathing was gentle, had she breathed in that hundred years? She didn’t know, certainly not like this, not without frantically recuperating her strength ready to grip tight again. Not just… breathing.

She should probably wake up, get up, show that she was alive so Link wouldn’t worry, but… but no-one would blame her for wanting to rest a little more, surely? Part of her mind said she should get up, do better, be more, that she shouldn’t be lazy or selfish. Usually she listened to that voice and dragged herself along, but… she’d been fighting for so long and it was so blessedly quiet. Surely no-one would deny her a few hours after a hundred year battle?

She let herself enjoy this moment, listening to her own breath as she let the quiet lull her back to sleep.


	6. New Clothes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The dress was a little too distinctive and impractical for everyday wear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And Yes, there is absolutely some setup for future themes in here.

Zelda startled awake at the slam of the door and scrabbled for purchase, something, anything. The soft blanket balled in her hands and it felt so unreal she didn’t register it wasn’t goop until she’d also found the duvet underneath her. She was breathing too fast, this world wasn’t real she…

Duvet. Blanket. Smooth but slightly rough, not a texture you find in the endless battle.

Her sight cleared as she saw Link run up the steps to the platform the bed was on, making out the beams of the house, the plaster and whitewash, gentle browns and creams and Link lowering his hood.

It was raining outside. She had heard wind earlier, the wind had caught the door. It was all fine.

She breathed. Link waited, watchful in case she was still panicking. A few more breaths and her hands moved, not quite trusting her voice, “<I’m okay.>”

Link relaxed and setting forward to offer her a hand out of bed, “<Are you okay for visitors after breakfast?>”

Letting people see her? So soon? Looking like this? She looked down at her unwashed body and muddy dress. Apparently her expression had said everything for her and Link smiled, “<That is why you would have visitors. I thought you would be happier if the tailor came to us to take your measurements.>”

Zelda could have kissed him she was so grateful, “Yes, please, though can I wash first? How long will the garments take to make? How can I wash this dress?”

“<Yes. A few days to alter her current stock. There’s a river below the house, you can borrow some of my spare clothes.>”

She compared their heights and body shape. Yes, she supposed that would work… “Are you sure you won’t need them?”

“<Yes. I have plenty.>” Link beamed and showed her the sheikah slate, indicating a few of them, “<I think the Rito would be good for general wear, it stretches and is soft and warm. But for measuring probably something less padded like the standard Hylian trousers and tunic would be better, though the tunic is a little scratchy so you might want to borrow my Champion’s tunic.>”

Zelda looked at the array of outfits and blinked, “Why do you have so many clothes?”

Link’s eyes shone, “<I like soft things, and all of them feel different, it’s interesting seeing how they reflect their purpose and origins.>”

Zelda blinked again, unsure whether she was more surprised or warmed by his rarely shown enthusiasm. A moment later she had to stifle a laugh and Link frowned slightly, his hands already moving, a flicker of something that almost looked… scared?

“<What’s funny?>”

“No no it’s nothing about you it’s just…” she bit back another laugh, “I’m a  _ princess _ , I had  _ lessons _ about what to wear to different levels of diplomatic events, but you were able to rattle off which outfit was the best for a situation faster than I ever could!”

Link relaxed and let himself smile, “<Okay, it is a little funny. Does this mean I get to choose what you need?>”

“Yes, but you have to check them with me first, I know what kind of aesthetic I like.”

His eyes gleamed, “<Done.>”


	7. Familiar faces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is very easy to know through logic and theory what you should do. It is a great deal harder to actually do it.

“<Do you think you can manage leaving the house?>”

Zelda looked up at Link and hesitated, stroking the new trousers that Link had collected yesterday. She should, she really should leave this nice safe house and its little garden. The moment had to come some time. But… she was scared, and still sensitive to loud sounds, could she manage a village?

Okay. Okay. Trust him, he wouldn’t have suggested this if he didn’t have a plan, just like with the clothes. She opened her mouth and found that her voice had given up on her. “<Do you have a plan?>”

Link nodded, “<We would be going through the village to the Hateno Tech Lab. Purah wants to see you again.>”

Purah? Purah was still alive? “Yes!”

Link smiled, “<Then we’ll go after breakfast. Just as a warning, she is… very different now.>”

Zelda puzzled over this statement as she ate, then put it aside in favour of building up her courage to go through a bustling village. New clothes, check, hair neatly brushed so she was presentable? Check. Clean? Check.

She froze at the door to the house. This was stupid! She’d been down to the river to wash without a second thought, but the bridge to the village scared her so much she couldn’t even make it out of the door?

Breathe. Step back. Be a scientist, work out why you are scared and then mitigate the problem. That was how it worked, find the source and deal with it. Was it the potential for sudden noises and bustle that scared her? Partially, but why did it scare her?

...Because people would see her flinch? See her panic? She had always hated having her moments of weakness be seen, always needing to be on top of it, always in control, one more way her inadequacies had burnt themselves into her mind. 

She had been far too weak and vulnerable in the last few days, why hadn’t she minded? Her eyes shifted to Link, as calm as ever. Link seeing… had been okay, eventually, but that was because he’d never said a word when he’d had to save her from Yiga after she escaped his sight. He’d dealt with the problem and acted completely normally, just sheathing his sword and offering her a hand up like she’d tripped. He’d even turned away when she was crying and pleading with the gods, not saying a word despite how uncomfortable he must have felt knowing he was the personification of everything she wasn’t.

Back to the problem, the village. Taking this step, meeting people would not just be risking being seen as weak, but being seen at all. It would be the first step back into the world, with all that brought for her and Link and the safe little house.

“I’m scared.”

And Link was there at her elbow, his presence silent reassurance even without the muted movements of his hands, “<I’m here.>”

“I know.” She breathed out. “Purah’s waiting for me, isn’t she?”

“<And Impa, when you can make it.>”

“Impa too?” her face lit up, “I have missed them so.”

“<She’s missed you too.>”

Zelda looked out of the door, “Then this is the first step. For the people who are waiting for me.”

She steeled herself, squared her shoulders and lifted her chin, piercing blue eyes looking straight out over the bridge to the village with the clarity of purpose and strength of will she’d used to face Ganon and stepped out, every inch a Princess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am not intending to write the meeting with Purah, because many other people have nailed it already. If you want roughly how it went then the meeting in Displaced ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/21128084/chapters/50279321 ) feels accurate and is well written, do give their story a visit!


	8. Impa

She could feel the old house in the centre of Kakariko calling her, not even noticing the guards as she walked past in a waft of golden hair, steps gaining speed until she roughly pushed open the door.

...and there was her old friend, head lifting to offer her a smile. 

She was running across the room before she could think, unable to see anything through her tears and careful with her force even as she threw herself into the waiting hug.

One of Impa’s old gnarled hands stroked Zelda’s head as the princess cried into her old friend’s lap. The Sheikah looked up at Link in the doorway and gave a single nod. Link nodded and closed the door quietly, leaving Zelda to her emotions in peace.


	9. Scholar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Was he different to her memory, or was she just seeing more?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the chapter that started this whole fic and absolutely catches the 'memory' type format I was originally going for. I hope you like it.

Sometimes Zelda wasn’t quite sure how to treat this new Link. She remembered him being silent, his hands occasionally flicking in response, but she never remembered him smiling, always solemn with duty and on alert for threats. 

Now she saw his hands skate over rocks and lizards with a fondness in his eyes she’d never seen before, each new creature or plant he shared with her a source of joy when she immediately rooted through the compendium to find out its properties or admire it.

“I never knew you were a scholar.” she said as they tracked down more fireflies.

“<I’m not>.” he responded, hands flicking.

“But you are clearly enjoying seeing all these new things and finding out about them.”

Link paused for a moment, tracing the petals of a flower absently with one hand before he spoke, hands gentle and flowing, “<I love this world, I love how I can run and there will be foxes and lizards running with me. I love how beautiful it is, from when I stand on a mountain and look at the world spread before me to running across a plain and feeling the wind in my hair.>” He looked up with a faint smile, “<And I love sharing it with someone who can also see how beautiful it is. That isn’t so strange, is it?>”

Something in Zelda’s gaze softened, “No. It doesn’t seem so strange at all.”


	10. Fidget

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes everything is just so *Loud*.

Sometimes there were days that Link couldn’t stay still, shifting and itching until he irritably changed his outfit to the Sheikah one. Usually he calmed down a little at that point, but today even that wasn’t enough, letting out a rare disgruntled noise before stopping halfway down a precarious slope to change the mask for his Rito headdress and swapped the claymore on his back for a wooden sword.

“Are you alright?”

Link jumped as if he’d forgotten Zelda was following him over the mountain ledges and gave a simple nod. 

Zelda raised a single skeptical eyebrow.

He sighed and tapped the arrow shafts sticking out of his quiver, “<The sword was clanking too much.>”

Now Zelda’s eyebrows shot up, she hadn’t even registered the sound, “You heard something that small?”

“< _ Yes _ .>” he signed emphatically.

Zelda paused for a moment as the pair jumped down to the next plateau, “Is that why you changed your clothes too?”

Link nodded, visibly calming down now, “<They were being too loud and itchy.>”

...and the Sheikah fibres were specifically made to not produce sound. “Are my clothes okay?”

He blinked at her, the closest he usually got to open surprise, “<A little, but you’re far enough away that it’s quiet.>”

“So, to check, sometimes certain sounds bother you?”

He nodded, “<Textures too. They make me irritable and give me a headache.>”

“No wonder you know so much about clothes.” she said, then squared her shoulders, turning along the mountain range, “Then we should go to Kakariko so I can get my own Sheikah outfit.”

There was no sound of footsteps following her and she turned to find Link openly staring at her, “What?”

Link’s hands floundered as he failed to find the right words, “<Just like that?>”

“Of course, why wouldn’t I fix a problem when the solution is that simple?”

Link stared at her a moment with a strange mix of emotions in his eyes before kneeling as he had done when he pledged himself to her, apparently unable to express himself any other way. 

She turned to face him properly and smiled, accepting his pledge in silence before offering him her hand.

And when he touched her skin he didn’t flinch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really do appreciate the attention to detail in the sound design, but sometimes the clanking really is just too much.


End file.
